What It Takes to Be Number One: Vince Lombardi on Leadership

Leadership continues to be one of the most written-about and most trained-for qualities in business today. And no figure so fully embodies the leadership qualities managers hope to cultivate in their professional and personal lives as the late Vince Lombardi, the greatest NFL coach of all time.

That First Season: How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL and Set It on the Path to Glory

John Eisenberg's That First Season is the seldom-studied prequel to a phenomenal football career for Vince Lombardi and the Packers, drawing on exhaustive new research and interviews to tell an incredible ensemble tale of a team, a town, and their leader. The once-vaunted Green Bay Packers were a laughingstock by the late 1950s. They hadn't fielded a winning team in more than a decade and were close to losing their franchise to another city. They were in desperate need of a savior, and he arrived in a wood-paneled station wagon in the dead of winter from New York City.

Instant Replay: The Green Bay Diary of Jerry Kramer

This classic sports book takes listeners inside the 1967 season of the Green Bay Packers, following that storied team from training camp to their dramatic victory in Super Bowl II. Candid and often amusing, Jerry Kramer describes from a player's perspective a bygone era of sports, filled with blood, grit, and tears. No game better exemplifies this period than the classic "Ice Bowl" conference championship game between the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, which Kramer, who made the crucial block in the climactic play, describes in thrilling detail.

Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre

Gunslinger tells Brett Favre's full, definitive story for the first time, drawing on more than 500 interviews, including many from the people closest to Favre. Jeff Pearlman charts Favre's journey, from his rough rural childhood and lackluster high school football career to landing the last roster spot at Southern Mississippi to a late-night car accident that nearly took his life. Favre clawed back, getting drafted into the NFL, first to Atlanta, then to Green Bay, where he restored the Packers to greatness and inspired a fan base as passionate as any in the game.

The Education of a Coach

Bill Belichick's 31 years in the NFL have been marked by amazing success - most recently with the New England Patriots. In this groundbreaking book, The Education of a Coach, David Halberstam explores the nuances of both the game and the man behind it. He uncovers what makes Bill Belichick tick both on and off the field.

Wooden: A Coach's Life

No college basketball coach has ever dominated the sport like John Wooden. His UCLA teams reached unprecedented heights in the 1960s and '70s, capped by a run of ten NCAA championships in twelve seasons and an eighty-eight-game winning streak, records that stand to this day. Wooden also became a renowned motivational speaker and writer, revered for his "Pyramid of Success." The portrait that emerges from Davis's remarkable biography is of a man in full, whose life story still resonates today.

Parcells: A Football Life

Bill Parcells may be the most iconic football coach of our time. During his decades-long tenure as an NFL coach, he turned failing franchises into contenders. He led the ailing New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories, turned the New England Patriots into an NFL powerhouse, reinvigorated the New York Jets, brought the Dallas Cowboys back to life, and was most recently enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Casey Stengel: Baseball's Greatest Character

There was nobody like Casey before him and no one like him since. For more than 50 years, Casey Stengel lived baseball, first as a player (he was the only person in history to play for all the New York teams - the Dodgers, Giants, Yankees, and Mets) and then as a manager (for the Yankees and Mets, among others). He made his biggest mark on the game revolutionizing the role of manager while winning an astounding 10 pennants and seven World Series championships (including five straight!) with the Yankees.

Saban: The Making of a Coach

As the head coach of the University of Alabama's football team, Nick Saban is perhaps the most influential - and controversial - man in the sport. Unpredictable in his professional loyalties, uncompromising in his vision, and unyielding in his pursuit of perfection, the highest-paid coach in college football has changed the face of the game. His program-building vision has delivered packed stadiums, rabid fans, legions of detractors, countless NFL draft picks, and a total of four championships.

Winning Strategies of High Achievers

With Winning Strategies, you'll hear first-hand what drives an NFL quarterback, a former Navy Seal, New York Times best-selling authors, and other successful individuals and acclaimed athletes to greatness. From overcoming adversity to finding motivation, the Winning Strategies audio suite offers hours of inspiration and practical steps towards reaching your personal best, in the board room or on the field of competition.

The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership

Drawn from a series of deeply revealing conversations with coauthor Steve Jamison, The Score Takes Care of Itself offers Walsh's best leadership principles illustrated by anecdotes from his entire career. Additional insights and perspective are provided by his son Craig Walsh. The book will delight football fans and guide the vast business audience eager to learn how Bill Walsh motivated individuals and crafted winning teams.

Belichick and Brady: Two Men, the Patriots, and How They Revolutionized Football

Featuring interviews from Patriots players and coaches, Holley presents a fascinating portrait of the partnership between Tom Brady, the Patriots' star quarterback, and Bill Belichick, the team's prolific coach. Chock-full of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and information exploring how they have strategized and weathered controversies, all culminating in four Super Bowl rings, this is required listening for any Patriots fan and students of the game of football.

Snake: The Legendary Life of Ken Stabler

Ken "The Snake" Stabler was the embodiment of the original Men in Black - the freewheeling, hard-hitting Oakland Raiders. The league's first swashbuckling pass thrower, the mythical southpaw Southerner famous for come-from-behind drives late in the game, Stabler led the Raiders to their first Super Bowl championship in 1977.

The Big Book of Belichick: His Thoughts on Strategy, Fundamentals & History

When Bill Belichick talks, smart people listen. This book contains Belichick's own words on topics like two point conversion strategy, preparing for Peyton Manning, and what he looks for when evaluating each player on the field. Belichick has spent a lifetime in the NFL, and as a result has a perspective on the game and its greatest competitors that few can match. Learn what he has to say about the history of the game and those who built the foundation of the modern NFL.

America's Quarterback: Bart Starr and the Rise of the National Football League

No one can touch Bart Starr's record setting 5 NFL Championships including 3 straight. America's Quarterback tells the story of the man who helped create the legend of Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers. This biography traces Starr’s life from childhood in Alabama to stardom in Green Bay and beyond. Not a simple sports story, Dunnavant traces the story of one man reaching for the American dream while professional football emerged from the shadows to capture the nation’s imagination.

The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football

College football has never been more popular - or more chaotic. Millions fill 100,000-seat stadiums every Saturday; tens of millions more watch on television every weekend. The 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama had a viewership of 26.4 million people, second only to the Super Bowl. Billions of dollars from television deals now flow into the game; the average budget for a top-ten team is $80 million; top coaches make more than $3 million a year; the highest paid, more than $5 million.

The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team

Once upon a time, they taught us to believe. They were the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, a blue-collar bunch led by an unconventional coach, and they engineered perhaps the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. Their "Miracle on Ice" has become a national fairy tale, but the real Cinderella story is even more remarkable. It is a legacy of hope, hard work, and homegrown triumph. It is a chronicle of everyday heroes who just wanted to play hockey happily ever after.

The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse

With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions.

Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty

Ty Cobb is baseball royalty, maybe even the greatest player who ever lived. His lifetime batting average is still the highest of all time, and when he retired in 1928, after twenty-one years with the Detroit Tigers and two with the Philadelphia Athletics, he held more than ninety records. But the numbers don't tell half of Cobb's tale. The Georgia Peach was by far the most thrilling player of the era: "Ty Cobb could cause more excitement with a base on balls than Babe Ruth could with a grand slam," one columnist wrote.

Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season

Pulling back the curtain on the high-profile, high-pressure world he operates in, Urban Meyer offers listeners a groundbreaking game plan for creating a culture of success that engages and inspires the people around them - the very game plan he followed every day in the Buckeyes' historic 2014 season.

Iron Ambition: My Life with Cus D'Amato

When Cus D'Amato first saw 13-year-old Mike Tyson spar in the ring, he proclaimed, "That's the heavyweight champion of the world." D'Amato, who had previously managed the careers of world champions Floyd Patterson and José Torres, would go on to train the young Tyson and raise him as a son. D'Amato died a year before Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history.

Tales from the Green Bay Packers Sidelines: A Collection of the Greatest Packers Stories Ever Told

The victory and legend of the Super Bowl XLV-winning Green Bay Packers continues in Chuck Carlson’s Tales from the Green Bay Packers Sideline. In this behind-the-scenes look at the NFL’s second oldest franchise, Carlson captures the determination, aggression, and vision that have constantly spurred the Packers to greatness. Through interviews and extensive research, Carlson brings to life stories from Packers legends such as Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Brett Favre, and the stars of today’s Packers like Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews, Jr.

Al Capone: His Life, Legacy, and Legend

From his heyday to the present moment, Al Capone - Public Enemy Number One - has gripped popular imagination. Rising from humble Brooklyn roots, Capone went on to become the most infamous gangster in American history. At the height of Prohibition, his multimillion-dollar Chicago bootlegging, prostitution, and gambling operation dominated the organized-crime scene.

Son of a Grifter: The Twisted Tale of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the Most Notorious Con Artists in America: A Memoir by the Other Son

In 1988 a troubled young man and his flamboyant mother were arrested for murdering a wealthy widow in her New York City mansion. Suddenly America was transfixed by a pair of real-life film noir characters. The media couldn't get enough of the twisted relationship between Sante Kimes and her 23-year-old son Kenny. But the most chilling story of all was never told - until now. Kent Walker, Sante's elder son, reveals how he survived 40 years of "the Dragon Lady's" very special brand of motherly love and still managed to get away.

Publisher's Summary

More than any other sports figure, Vince Lombardi transformed football into a metaphor for the American experience. The nine seasons during which he led the Green Bay Packers to five world championships is the most storied period in NFL history. Lombardi became a legend, a symbol to many of leadership, discipline, perseverance, and teamwork, and to others of an obsession with winning. Maraniss captures the myth and the man, football, God, and country in a thrilling biography that has become an American classic.

This year, on the fortieth anniversary of Vince Lombardi’s death, the immortal coach strides onto the Broadway stage in a new American play, Lombardi, based on Maraniss’s critically acclaimed book, written by Academy Award winner Eric Simonson.

vince lombardi was at heart an actor and a playwrightthe oldest son of southern italian immigrantshe longed to be, but never was, a scholarly jesuit priest

for a time he was the offensive line coach at army he longed to be a soldier and a leader of men in battlebut despite being 28 y.o. in 1941 he never served in the military

modern life seemed artificial, complicated and weak to him it was only on a football field that life made sense to him it was there that his virtues, talents and courage mattered

some men need to be tested and know where they standthey look for ways to face their fears and overcome painlombardi understood this better than anyone in his generation

he game these men a stage on which to demonstrate their abilitieshe created a world and a set of rules that fit their needs and talentshis demands to "pay the price for victory" resonated deeply with them

all of this success came at a terrible price, of coursehis alcoholic wife remained in his fearful shadow all of her lifehis son and daughter can honestly say they never knew him

life in post WW II america slowly quit rewarding the male virtuesbeing clever, attractive, political and comfortable became significantlombardi would have none of it and wore his old fashioned style with pride

this is easily the best sports biography i've ever heard or readthe themes and scale of the story come close to an american operait makes sense that people would want to bring the story to broadway

Where does When Pride Still Mattered rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It was a very nice companion for my weekly 90 minutes highway drive to the city. I will miss it.

What did you like best about this story?

It did a great job taking me to "feel" the 30s, 40's and the movement to the 50's and 60's with their idiosyncrasy. As the chapters occur, you can also feel how the sport change, the strategies and the men that play it. I liked the stories about the people that surrounded Lombardi, the relationship with his players, other coaches and owners. Also allows you to look into a human Lombardi; if you take judgment outside, it's a great experience. It takes you to the era of writers and radio, when the power of the pen could create a legend.<br/>

What about Richard M. Davidson’s performance did you like?

The way he personifies Lombardi.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It's not a moment per se, but the constant love for the team, for a game that offers so much for those that are willing to pay the price. The feeling group of men (people) learning from each other, taking care of each other, growing and sharing, football and life.

Any additional comments?

Lombardi is the Sum of people that had a passion for the game and life. Knowledge given to those eager to learn. Each experience builded Lombardi way of coaching...and still does.

While The Narrator has a pleasant voice and read the book well, the fact that he mispronounced numerous names incorrectly was extremely distracting and made listening to the book almost unbearable. His mispronunciation of Paul Hornung was extremely annoying. Often it sounded as if he was saying Hornum or HorNUN. Even Paul himself says HORNING. His pronunciation of the various towns and cities in Wisconsin, the names of the board members shows a real lack of preparation prior to the performance. He couldn't even pronounce Green Bay properly. He often called it GREEN bay with the emphasis on the word GREEN. It is pronounced Green Bay with equal emphasis on both words or Green BAY With the emphasis on Bay. Because those names are repeated often in every chapter it became a very big distraction listening to the book. He even mispronounced the name of the author.